We get many questions regarding which genealogy software we recommend. While we all have experience with different software programs, there is not a definitive answer to these questions. The answer is always, “It depends.” The type of software that someone would want to use is a very personal choice. It depends on the person’s experience with computers, previous experience with software programs, what the person can afford, and what he or she hopes to get out of the software. We typically recommend looking at reviews and comparisons of the different programs. There are some wonderful programs out there, and we hope everyone finds the right fit for his or her research.

The Midwest African American Genealogy Institute (MAAGI) is being hosted at The Genealogy Center, Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana from July 12-14, 2016. As a part of MAAGI, Judy Russell will be giving an evening presentation on July 12th at 6:30pm on “Just Three Generations.” Russell will discuss how our oral family histories can be completely lost in just three generations. Following genealogy’s best practices can help us keep those losses from happening in our families – and with our own stories.

First up is the whole Central High School yearbook, The Caldron for 1928. From the main page, one can browse to each class, activities such as music, debate, and men’s and women’s sports, or search for a specific name. The scan even includes the inscription by the volume’s original owner, Luella Stark.

We have created a new North Side High School page to launch the scrapbooks that we have been able to digitize, including art teacher Marjorie Bell’s scrapbooks covering 1952 to 1973, the Future Secretaries of America, 1980-1981, the 1977-1978 North Side 50th Anniversary Scrapbook, including the 1978 Blizzard Edition, and the North Side High School War Efforts 1942-1944. This site will soon also offer videos, so keep watching!

The Civil War was a messy affair. It broke down families, made widows and orphans, and was a catastrophic loss of life. Many times you will hear people discuss how the Civil War made enemies of brothers. For some, this sounds like just a way to describe how some extended families were separated by the war. Unfortunately, it was actually the truth. Many siblings did fight on opposite sides of the war. Families were truly divided.

One interesting story happened with two brothers from Indiana. John and Henry McLaughlin were born and raised in Marion County, Indiana. The brothers had six siblings and came from a close family. Henry moved to Alabama sometime between 1850 and 1860. In 1861, he married a young widow, Sarah Cannady, who already had a daughter, and began expanding their family to having seven more children. John married Louise Morehouse and began their family of eleven children in 1851. Prior to John’s marriage, he fought as a sergeant in Mexican-American War.

The brothers’ lives were going well until the Civil War caused them to fight on opposite sides of the war. John enlisted with the Union Army as a lieutenant and was promoted to colonel by the end of the war. Henry enlisted as a private in the Confederate Army and was promoted to second lieutenant. In May of 1863, the brothers fought on opposite sides of the same battle, the Siege of Vicksburg. Henry was captured and sent to a Union military prison. There he wrote to his sister, Susan McLaughlin Brown, for help.

Susan was a nurse during the Civil War and her husband was a surgeon. When she received the letter from her brother she flew into action. Susan went to Governor Morton to plead her brother’s case. He, in turn, wrote her a letter of introduction to President Abraham Lincoln on 7 January 1865. Susan traveled to Washington, D.C., and met with the President five days later to state her brother’s case. The President deemed to have Henry released once he took the oath to the United States of America. Henry took the oath on 24 January 1865 and was released five days later due to Susan’s determination.

Henry went home to his family in Alabama after the war. Sarah and Henry’s second child as a couple was born a year later. Henry died sometime between 1876 and 1880. John moved his family to Kansas and died on 15 Apr 1890. Susan McLaughlin Brown moved first to Kansas and then to Georgia, Chicago, Illinois, and lastly to Los Angeles, California, where she died on 1 February 1928.

This is just one example of how families were torn apart during the Civil War. These types of stories can be fleshed out with research at a facility such as The Genealogy Center. You can even find some Civil War records digitized on The Genealogy Center’s Our Military Heritage. This could lead you to discover a Civil War ancestor or to learn more about them.

We also have three letters of the Howard Family, DeKalb County, Indiana. The first, dated 1930, is from 11 year old Elton Howard, was written to his mother, Ester, and mailed in the first batch of air mail from Fort Wayne. It flew to Chicago and back, and was intended as a souvenir. The second is a 1919 letter to Elton’s father, Elton D., from his aunt Emma, who was visiting Danville, Indiana. The third letter, also to Elton, Sr., from Emma Howard, discusses various members of the extended family.

The last is Thomas Middlebrook Willis, 1859-1937, Pioneer Abilene, Texas Attorney. Thomas was born in 1859 in Georgia. His family migrated to Texas in 1866, then, after law school, he settled in Abilene, where he settled and his family grew. his descendant, T. Bradford Willis, DDS, of Waco, Texas, compiled this biography and has graciously allowed us to post it.

Have a brick wall in your research? Would you like a greater understanding of some aspect of your research? The Genealogy Center is offering 30-minute personal research consultations with a staff member on some troublesome aspect of your research on Tuesday, June 7th and Tuesday, June 28th, both 2 PM to 4PM. Call 260-421-1225 or send an email requesting a Consultation. You will be asked to provide basic information concerning the nature of your quandary and a staff member will be assigned and a time established for your consultation. Be sure to bring your research notes to your consultation.Space is limited, and pre-registration is required. Register today!

We have several new World War I material for Our Military Heritage! They all present different types of records that may be applicable to your World War I ancestor!

First, we have Adolph Hannie’s records, contributed by Susan Hannie Goshorn. Hannie was with the 34th Field Artillery and this file includes his July 1918 enlistment record in Decatur, Indiana, order of induction, report of ratings, honorable discharge dated January 1919 and death certificates for Adolph (1969) and his wife Lulu (1984).

We also have Walter Siemowski’s World War Bonus File from the Archives of Michigan. Walter was born on 1 June 1893 in Laurium, Houghton County, Michigan, and served with Company I of the 78th Infantry although he never served overseas. Walter died in Detroit in 1965. This document was submitted by Joseph F. Martin of Romeoville, Illinois, and used here with his permission.

The last item from World War I is Lawrence Anthony Govansky’s Veterans Census Record. Walter was Windsor, Ontario, in 1898, and enlisted in the U.S. Army at Columbus Barracks, Ohio, on 9 June 1917 although he had been living in Detroit. This document mistakenly identifies his birthplace as Detroit. Originally, he was a private with the 10th Recruiting Company, then moved to Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indiana to be part of the 13th Ambulance Company. He later was part of the 302nd Ambulance Company in Ayer, Massachusetts, and Casual Company 339 at Camp Merritt, New Jersey. He served in France from 20 August 1918 to 10 July 1919. Lawrence was discharged from service at Camp Sherman, Ohio, on 24 July 1919. He changed his name at some time to Lawrence A. Lawrence and died in 1982 in Avon, Michigan. This record was submitted by Joseph F. Martin of Romeoville, Illinois, and used here with his permission.

Take a few minutes to examine these and see if you might locate a similar record for the object of your search!

Join us on Wednesday, May 18, 2016, for the Fifth Annual Rolland Lecture, "What Indiana Civic Life Light Taught Young Mr. Lincoln," presented by Judge Randall Shephard, retired Chief Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court and sponsored by the Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection. Attend this free event at 7:00 PM in the Theater of the Allen County Public Library, 900 Library Plaza.

Naturalization is the method by which a foreign person, or “alien,” becomes a citizen. It is a voluntary act and is not required under United States law. The first Naturalization Act was passed in 1790. At that time, most naturalizations occurred in the court nearest to the individual being naturalized, which could have been the county court or the federal court. The naturalization process took about five years. After two years of living in the country, the alien would file papers stating his or her Declaration of Intent to Naturalize (or “First Papers”). After three more years, the alien could then file a Petition for Naturalization. Generally, the Declaration of Intent records have more information that is beneficial to genealogists than the actual Petition.

The first thing to note when looking for naturalization records is that you will not find them for women between 1790 and 1922. Women and children under the age of 21 would be automatically naturalized when their husband or father became naturalized. If an alien woman married a U.S. citizen, she would automatically become naturalized. This process worked in the reverse as well. When a woman married someone who was not a U.S. citizen, she lost her citizenship to the United States even if she continued to live in the country. Additionally, children could file their Declarations and Petitions at the same time if they lived in the country five years before their 23rd birthday from 1824 until 1906.

1906 was a great year for genealogists in terms of added information to the naturalization records. In 1906, the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization was formed. After the Bureau’s formation, more information was included on the naturalization records and the forms became standardized. This also meant that more information about women and children were included in the records.

In 1862, a law was enacted to allow Army veterans who had been honorably discharged to petition for naturalization after living for a year in the United States. In 1894, a law was enacted to include Navy and Marine veterans. Later, thousands of men were naturalized through a law enacted on May 9, 1918, which allowed aliens serving in the U.S. military to file a Petition for Naturalization while they were serving in the present war, World War I. More laws of this kind were enacted in 1919, 1926, 1940, and 1952 giving special treatment to veterans.

A major and frustrating aspect about naturalization records is that there is not a great way to locate them. The records for naturalizations that took place at federal courthouses should reside with the National Archives. The records for naturalizations that took place at county courthouses may still reside within the specific county. However, some records from county courthouse nationalizations have been sent to the National Archives, compounding the difficulty of the search.

The best source for finding naturalization records is the FamilySearch wiki. The website has a great overview of naturalization records. The overview then has a link to a page for each state’s naturalization records. The state pages will assist with finding where the specific naturalization records are located.

The Pilgrims were religious separatists and were seeking to establish a strictly conservative society in America. The Pilgrims were displeased with the perceived secular nature of English society and originally moved to the Netherlands to avoid the influence of English culture. However, they later determined they needed to move again, this time to America, to prevent their children from adopting Dutch culture, among other reasons.

It is estimated that there are over 35 million living descendants of the Pilgrims who traveled to America on the Mayflower. There are several organizations just for these descendants, with the largest and most comprehensive being the General Society of Mayflower Descendants. Other Mayflower organizations are for specific states or families.

Since there are so many descendants and the interest is so high, there are many resources available to research Mayflower ancestors. In The Genealogy Center collection alone, there are dozens of resources available that are specific to the history of the Mayflower. These resources include the full run of The Mayflower Quarterly, which began in 1935. Another resource you can access at The Genealogy Center is AmericanAncestors.org, a paid database that is available in our building to our patrons.

Have you ever thought about the legacy flowers have in your family? My grandmother was a gardener and had some of the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen in her garden. My mother has ivy, Lily of the Valley, and several other flowers that were starts from my grandmother’s garden. Starts of these plants will soon be added to my garden. Since my grandmother is no longer living, these starts from her garden mean so much more to me than plants from the store.

There are many people who have gardens and plants from relatives who have long predeceased them. There are roses that have been in families for centuries. In some families, gardening or plants are a family’s legacy to pass down to the next generation.

Have a brick wall in your research? Would you like a greater understanding of some aspect of your research? The Genealogy Center is offering 30-minute personal research consultations with a staff member on some troublesome aspect of your research on Tuesday, May 17th and Tuesday, May 24th, both 2 PM to 4PM. Call 260-421-1225 or send an email requesting a Consultation. You will be asked to provide basic information concerning the nature of your quandary and a staff member will be assigned and a time established for your consultation. Be sure to bring your research notes to your consultation.Space is limited, and pre-registration is required. Register today!

As Preservation Week continues, it is important to remember why this week exists. Preservation Week was begun by the American Library Association with many partners in 2010 in order to bring awareness to the preservation needs of collections. It has continually grown over the years and helped to raise awareness for the materials that need preservation.

In recognition of this week, The Genealogy Center has a full week of programming to assist our customers in their own preservation needs. The Genealogy Center will also be posting blogs on different items in our collection that have been damaged and tips on how to prevent such damage. We will also discuss how to preserve the damaged material so it will not be further damaged.

Today, we are going to focus on silverfish. Thankfully, we have not had this issue at The Genealogy Center but we have been asked about what to do if silverfish get into a personal collection. This being the case, our photograph of interest is of a nasty little silverfish. This bug is the arch enemy of archivists.

Silverfish eat carbohydrates such as sugars or starches in adhesives. This includes books, carpet, clothing, and glue. For this blog, the important item on that list would be books! Once you discover silverfish in your materials, isolate them. Put the infested materials in a container that you can seal away from your other materials.

You have several options at this point. You could introduce chemicals to your materials but this is not advisable if you wish to preserve them. Another option is to freeze the materials. This will kill the silverfish and if done properly, will not harm your materials.

For general pest control information and how to prevent infestation, click here.

As Preservation Week continues, it is important to remember why this week exists. Preservation Week was begun by the American Library Association with many partners in 2010 in order to bring awareness to the preservation needs of collections. It has continually grown over the years and helped to raise awareness for the materials that need preservation.

In recognition of this week, The Genealogy Center has a full week of programming to assist our customers in their own preservation needs. The Genealogy Center will also be posting blogs on different items in our collection that have been damaged and tips on how to prevent such damage. We will also discuss how to preserve the damaged material so it will not be further damaged.

Today, the next item that was brought to our attention is a book with ripped pages. Ripped pages are usually the result of accidents. Sometimes the tears are the result of negligence or done intentionally, but let’s focus on how to prevent and fix the damage.

As Preservation Week begins, it is important to remember why this week exists. Preservation Week was begun by the American Library Association with many partners in 2010 in order to bring awareness to the preservation needs of collections. It has continually grown over the years and helped to raise awareness for the materials that need preservation.

In recognition of this week, The Genealogy Center has a full week of programming to assist our customers in their own preservation needs. The Genealogy Center will also be posting blogs on different items in our collection that have been damaged and tips on how to prevent such damage. We will also discuss how preserve the damaged material so it will not be further damaged.

Maybe you have been hunting for a copy of an old family history that several cousins have mentioned and finally find one online. Or maybe you are browsing a used book store and find a county history in the area in which your ancestors lived. Congratulations! You buy the book, or get in the mail, gleefully open it and start to sneeze. You mutter to yourself, “Book dust!” and gamely continue turning the pages, coughing and blowing your nose. That may be dust, but it may also be mold or mildew. For some, this is a nuisance, but others are violently allergic to this mold. You have your treasure, but you have some less pleasant stuff along with it.

We also receive books that have mold and mildew, and occasionally, our own volumes develop mold, as you can see in the attached photo. Mold and mildew is cause by a damp environment and poor air flow. Books in basements, in closets or along outside walls are more vulnerable to mold. Being a fungus, mold sends out spores, so other books will be infected. Mildew often follows mold and imparts a dank smell to your library. If you discover mold or mildew on any of your books, separate the book from the rest of your collection, preferable in another room. For more valuable books, a professional conservator may be hired to clean the volume, but Biblio.com has detailed instructions on cleaning you can do at home, including removing mold and mildew, drying wet books, and removing the musty smell.

Once you’ve removed an infected volumes and cleaned those that you can, be sure to keep a sharp watch in the future to nip any mold in the bed!

As Preservation Week continues, it is important to remember why this week exists. Preservation Week was begun by the American Library Association with many partners in 2010 in order to bring awareness to the preservation needs of collections. It has continually grown over the years and helped to raise awareness for the materials that need preservation.

In recognition of this week, The Genealogy Center has a full week of programming to assist our customers in their own preservation needs. The Genealogy Center will also be posting blogs on different items in our collection that have been damaged and tips on how to prevent such damage. We will also discuss how preserve the damaged material so it will not be further damaged.

If you have noticed, The Genealogy Center has no paper bound books. We receive paper bound books (purchases and donations), but to insure the volume, and its precious information, will last longer, we hard bind everything. When a volume wears our through normal use, we will rebind the volume in a new cover. But hard-backed books are not impervious to hard use, and the spine of a book is one of the most vulnerable places. “Breaking” the spine so that the volume will lay open flat or to facilitate copying is just that: breaking. As the glue, backing and threads snap, one can hear the book suffer. Your own books at home, both paper and hard bound, need to be respected. When I was much younger, before I realized that some people would break the spine to make a paperback easier to hold open, I loaned a favorite book to a friend – who returned it with the spine broken. It wasn’t long before pages started to fall out. Needless to say, I never loaned that person another book, and took greater care to whom I loaned in the future!

The spines will also break if the book is shelved with the spine on the top: the sheer weight of the pages will pull the spine loose. Many people think that if a number of books are shelved together with the spines up, the press will eliminate this damage, but that is a fallacy. Gravity is there whether there’s one book of ten.

Check your personal library for weak spines. Make sure that books are shelved with the spines out or lay the volume flat. There are several YouTube videos on simple repair for broken book spines. Just check on Google under “repairing broken book spines.” And if you do loan books, let the borrower know that you expect the same care given to your books that you would provide!

As Preservation Week continues, it is important to remember why this week exists. Preservation Week was begun by the American Library Association with many partners in 2010 in order to bring awareness to the preservation needs of collections. It has continually grown over the years and helped to raise awareness for the materials that need preservation.

In recognition of this week, The Genealogy Center has a full week of programming to assist our customers in their own preservation needs. The Genealogy Center will also be posting blogs on different items in our collection that have been damaged and tips on how to prevent such damage. We will also discuss how preserve the damaged material so it will not be further damaged.

The next item that has been brought to our attention is a book turning brown from the acidity in the paper. Acidity is one of the causes of damage in paper as it weakens the fibers that make up the paper and eventually destroys them. Subsequently, paper made from mechanical wood pulp decomposes quickly from within.

Tips to prevent damage: Unfortunately, the acidic paper composition is an inherent flaw. In order to combat the decomposition of the paper due to the acid, the pH has to be increased. This is possible through mass deacidification. Mass deacidification is where an alkaline substance is added to the paper to neutralize the existing acid and prevent further decomposition.

Tips to deal with damage: A way to work to reduce further decomposition is to improve the environmental storage conditions. A method of doing that is by storing loose paper in inert polyester film sleeves. Then place the materials in safe, cool, dry, dark environment. For more information on preservation of acidic paper, visit this website.